Monthly Archives: June 2008

Certain Children in Central ParkThey command from the pram, these children,in their nanny-powered strollers, little SUV’sthat bully the walkways and rule the paths.They wield proud smiles from bikes with training wheels.They beseech half-awake, unshaven dadsor tell their mother, “No.” They do not want to gotoward the carousel. It’s the robin in the flower patchthey want. “Take me there. Give it to me.”Bound by wrist leashes, they cannot run toward their desires.They perform ballet moves they’ve been taughtat weekly afternoon lessons, prancing past benches. Miniature Manhattanites, they talk New York. They have money but do not know it yet. They will be rich Democrats and vote with disdain.This Saturday, if they pout, parents speak to them as though addressing a board meeting or negotiating a sale.They will demand “A’s” on school compositions.These precious kids will experience William Blakeand not care less. They glisten in the morning sun.Ashley’s and Courtney’s stare at boys with eyes of a debutante. Do they like their nannies? Mothers wrap their dripping ice cream coneswith napkins to protect their hands, to keep themclean. Stickiness is not allowed to linger.Their little fingers clutch at the air, their little eyes stare at flowers they cannot touch.

A poet, teacher and a teacher of teachers, David Cappella is an Associate professor in the English department at Central Connecticut State University.

He is the co-author with Baron Wormser of Teaching the Art of Poetry: The Moves and of A Surge of Language: Teaching Poetry Day to Day. In 2003, he was the resident teacher/poet for the Frost Place Conference on Poetry and Teaching. He is a former co-chairperson for the NCTE’s Commission on Poetry. He has presented workshops on the teaching of poetry in public schools in Connecticut and throughout the United States, including the National Endowment for the Humanities.

His poems have appeared in The Connecticut Review, Diner, The Bryant Literary Review, The Bradford Review, The Providence Journal and other journals. He is the winner of the 2004 Bright Hill Press Poetry Chapbook Competition for Gobbo: A Solitaire’s Opera, the first poem of which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He was the featured poet, “a blue plate special,” in the Winter 2006 issue of Diner. The complete manuscript of Gobbo: A Solitaire’s Opera was a finalist for the 2006 Bordighera Prize.

Ameen-Storm Abo-Hamzy has spent his life on the road toward peace.
Born in Torrington, Connecticut, to Mohammed and Aida A. Hamzy, the grandson of an American GI, Ameen (which translates as trustworthy), his two sisters Doonia (which translates as the World), and Bader (which translates as Full Moon) lived in Beirut until the cruel reality of war in the Middle East forced the family to return to their home in the idyllic Housatonic River Valley of Connecticut. The experience left Ameen with a passion for achieving lasting peace among nations.
He received his first award for poetry in eighth grade at Lee H. Kellogg School in a contest sponsored by Lionís Head Books in Salisbury. Upon graduating from Housatonic Valley Regional High School in 1983, he attended Norwich University, (The Military College of Vermont), graduating cum laude in 1987. Whereupon he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry in the United States Army (Airborne) and served until he was injured in the line of duty and honorably discharged. In 2003 he graduated with his Masters from Wesleyan University.
Evolution Ink, a not for profit organization founded by Ameen produces a poetry series hosted by the Collinís Diner, a National Historic Landmark in North Canaan, Connecticut, and is dedicated to the proposition of peace as a realistic expectation. The Poetry Is MusicÆ summer festival Evolution Ink, has sponsored every year since 1995, is a testament to the power of love and art to heal the rifts among people.
Through his award-winning poetry published in The Voice, The Day Keeper Journal, The Lakeville Journal, The Vietnam Veteransí Journal, The Underwood Review, The Chameleon, and Our Heritage and through his work as a teacher and coach, Ameen spreads the gospel of peace wherever he goes. Evolution Ink is a network of good work and community outreach keeping the Arts alive and empowering students to achieve any aspiration. Ameen teaches for the Litchfield Performing Arts and coaches wrestling in Region One. He has been featured in articles in The New York Times, The Litchfield County Times, The Lakeville Journal, The Voice, and The Republican- American and in a host of local newspapers. He has appeared on, MTV in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, as well as on radio, and has performed his poetry throughout the continental United States, in London, Madrid, Paris, Lebanon and the Canary Islands. In 2002 he was invited to participate in the Seeds of Peace camp in Maine.
On June 22, 2002 he deliver the commencement address to Housatonic Valley Regional High Schoolís graduates in Region One of Connecticut. The Connecticut Commission on the Arts has recently selected him as a Master Teaching Artist. Nominated for The Governor’s Award for his contribution to the cultural enhancement of Connecticut through the Arts 2003 and 2005. Recipient of the 2005 Distinguished Advocate for Culture and Tourism Award for selfless dedication to promoting Connecticut through the Arts. In August of 2006 he was invited to membership in The National Arts Club.

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NOTICE: This evening our usual order will be reversed. The featured poets will read first at 8p.m. followed by the open mic.

The Touchstone Community invites you to a poetry reading, a rare and intimate glimpse into the lives of teenage girls who have been on the edge. Touchstone is a residential treatment facility in Litchfield – a place forhealing, for learning to take responsibility for one’s own choices, fordeveloping an awareness of what those choices might be. Come and give these young women an audience for their unforgettable work. Our award- winning poetry anthology, I Am Not A Juvenile Delinquent, will be on sale, andalumnae will also be present to read work they¹ve written since being out inthe world again.

Touchstone, located on 55 acres of land in Litchfield, Connecticut, is a residential program serving girls committed to the Department of Children and Families. For eight years, family therapist Sharon Charde has volunteered at Touchstone developing and administering a creative writing program there. I AM NOT A JUVENILE DELINQUENT, a book of their poetry, edited by Ms. Charde won the PASS award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. Jon Baskin, a filmmaker from New York, made a 22-minute documentary about the program. Click for more information, to read a sample poem and to view the Jon Baskin film trailer.

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Spanning the life-lines – Chiara Dilello, one of this years Connecticut Circuit Student Poets, from Wesleyan and Doris Henderson, local poet, a retiree and a proud grandmother of six – will give a joint reading……
Doris Henderson’s poems have appeared in the Connecticut River Review, Slant, Comstock Review, and Caduceus, among others. She has published three chapbooks of her poems, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She was a featured reader this past March at the Danbury Women’s Center,celebrating Women’s History Month, and is a longtime resident of Danbury.

Chiara Di Lello is a student at Wesleyan University, class of 2010 She is a great admirer of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Chiara received a Gold Key and a Gold Award in the 2005 Scholastic Writing Awards and won the 2006 Browning Society Poetry Contest. Her poetry has been published in Euphony at the University of Chicago and in Ostranenie at Wesleyan. Chiara hasn’t decided on a major yet, but her interests include languages and Shakespeare. At Wesleyan, she produces student theater through Secod stage. Chiara was born in New York City.